Improvement in tongue-supports



L SCHRUBEN. Tongue-Support.' N 0 l 3 2 6 4 v Pate nted May 1l, 1875.

@ l C Y H l5A llluulmu A ATTORNEYS FFIGE PATENT LEONARD SCHRUBEN, OF LAFAYETTE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN TONGIUE-SUPPQRTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 163,24, dated May 11,1875; application led April 3, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD SGHRUBEN, of La Fayette, in the county ofTippecanoe and State of Indiana, have invented a new and valuableImprovement in Wagon-Gears; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the con struction andoperation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,makingapart of this specification, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation ofa plan view of mywagon-gear, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same.Fig. 3 is a detail view.

This invention has relation to improvements in wagon attachments. Theobject of the invention is to provide a means whereby the weight of thetongue and .neck-yoke in double-harness will be taken olf the necks ofthe animals, and whereby the team will be protected from the sudden jarconsequent upon the commencement of the strain. To this end the natureof the invention consists in a spring suspended across the front openingof the hounds, upon which spring is applied an adjustable support, uponwhich the tongue is sustained, whereby the weight of the same is removedfrom the animals necks, and a means is provided for raising or loweringthe said tongue to suit the height of various animals. It also consistsin an endwisesliding doubletree clip, arranged in guides upon the saidtongue, and connected, by a suitable yoke and chains, to the axle of awagon, whereby the strain, when at its height, is removed from saidtongue and transferred to the axle, thereby relieving the hounds of allundue strain, and allowing the draft to be applied gradually by theanimals, and consequently preventing them from being strained and jerkedabout in their efforts to draw the load, as will be hereinafter morefull-y explained and claimed.

In the annexed drawings, A A represent the axles of a wagon, supportedupon transporting-Wheels B, and connected, in the usual well-knownmanner, by a reach, C. D D are, respectively, the rear and frontholsters, and E is the front sand-har, bolster D and sandbar E beingattached to the front axlethe former by means of a king-bolt, and thelatter by the usual bolts passing vertically through the said baraudaxle, and secured in place. by means of suitable nuts. F F representthe hounds, and G the guide-rails of rotating bolster D. Between theouter ends of hounds F F is pivoted the furcated rear end of tongue H bymeans of a strong bolt, a, passing transversely through the hounds andthe tongue, which latter is thus allowed to have vertical vibration withrelation to the former. I represents a steel spring of suitablestrength, which is arranged and secured, with its convexity upward,below and across the open ends of hounds F F', upon which spring isapplied, in a position transverse to its length, a metallicsupporting-block, b. The upper surface of this block is received intoand rests against a suitable metallic plate, c, rigidly secured to theunder side of tongue H, and it is prevented from lateral displacement bymeans of lugs d, projecting downward from plate c, and inclosingsupportingblock b. Spring I is in front of bolt a, and will consequentlyhold the tongue in a horizontal position, thus relieving the necks ofthe draft-animals of the weight of the said tongue and of the yoke; butas horses and draft-animals generally differ materially in height, itbecomes necessary to raise or lower the outer end of the tongue to suit.This is done iu the following manner, to wit: Setscrews e are passedthrough suitable threaded perforations in block b, one beingin front andthe other in rear of spring I, as shown iu figure. By setting .up screwc in front of spring I, the end ofthe shaft will be raised in proportionto the degree of action imparted to the said screw; and if the otherscrew be set up when the desired adjustment of the tongue has beenobtained, the latter will be allowed to yield to vertical or lateralmotion, but softly and gently, only preventing it from jerking about andfretting the horses. J indicates a slide-plate applied upon the uppersurface of tongue H, and guided in its endwise movement, in staples f,through which are passed prongs g on the ends ofthe said plate, and krepresents a double-tree secured thereon by means of a clip-iron, h, anda bolt,

i, passing through registering perforations in the said clip-iron, in adouble-tree iron, j, and through alongitudinal slot-tongue, H. Plate Jis connected With the front axle-tree by means of a spring-yoke, K', andchains L, as shown in Fig. l,l so that when the draft animals arestarted to move the Wagon, they will gradually and easily receive thefull Weight of the load, and will therefore be protected from injuryconsequent upon being required to overcome the full Weight thereof atthe start, owing to the yielding of springyoke K. The advantage of thisconstruction will be readily appreciated by Wagoners and those usingWagons, When it is known that most of the injuries to animals7 legs arecaused in the effort of overcoming the dead- Weight of a load at thestart.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a Wagon, the combination of a sliding clip-plate, J, With aWagon-tongue and doubletree, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a sliding clip, J, doubletree K, spring-yoke K',and chains L, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with a vibrating tongue, H, and the spring-supportedblock b, ofthe set-screws e, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my nainein the presence of two Witnesses.

LEONARD SCHRUBEN.

Witnesses:

MICHAEL SGHRUBEN, R. M. MEGNETTs.

